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The British Broadcasting Corp. has a new leader as Matt Brittin has been confirmed director general by the BBC Board.
Brittin replaces Tim Davie who announced his resignation in November.
Brittin has spent most of his career at Google and does not have a traditional broadcasting nor public service background.
BBC Board Chairman Samir Shah said that Brittin “brings to the BBC deep experience of leading a high-profile and highly-complex organization through transformation.”
He added, “It is clear there is need for radical reform of the BBC, its funding model and the framework in which it operates. The stakes for the BBC, and the future of public service broadcasting, have never been higher.”
A news release from the BBC noted that Brittin is arriving at a “crucial time” for the famed broadcaster. A controversy over editing of a President Donald Trump speech in the “Panorama” news program and other criticisms of long-standing editorial biases have collected while rapid media technology advances present another set of threats to the broadcaster. Brittin is thought to have a leg up on the technology changes with his almost 20 years at Google.
Current CNN CEO and Board Chairman and former BBC Director General (2004–2012) Mark Thompson said, “It’s clearly a bold and interesting choice, an advance payment on the future… Matt Brittin isn’t a broadcaster or journalist by background but brings skills and experiences to the job that no previous director general has had.”
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